Alphaville Herald

SLchan.com -- W-Hat.com’s Bratty Little Brother?

New media watch

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Our attention was recently drawn to www.SLchan.com - an image-driven site catering to the tastes of Second Life’s /b/tard community - mixing the ironic hypercute, the profane, and a smattering of iconic griefers as the community collectively defines an internet subculture with random pictures and short comments.

While the SLchan site mimics the 4chan approach with primarily anonymous posting, the focus is on Second Life and maintaining the memes that define the group zeitgeist.

Presumably the SLchan organizers hope to grow their community by recruiting at the site.

Until recently, SLchan.com incorporated a Second Life account sign-up page. Will more accounts please the Lab as the /b/ work to improve the human condition using Second Life? Or is there some other agenda at work?  Images on the site are a very mixed bag - anyone easily offended will want to give SLchan.com and 4chan a miss.

\

While the SLchan site is a recent development, the W-Hat goons' www.w-hat.com site is the elder statesmen of un-serious Second Life business. W-hat.com has been a fixture in the Second Life blogosphere since 2007, and it shows. The look is slick and professional, illustrating a basic tension between the /b/tards and the goons.

From EVE: More TITANic Fail

Another $10,000 USD Down the Toilet

by Urizenus Sklar, at the He's Everywhere Desk.

Recently we showed you the epic joy that goons and other humanoids can feel at the (permitted) destruction of $10,000 in assets in EVE Online. It involved the recording of the first destruction of a Titan. Forgot? - here is the video to remind you.

Now comes word that another Titan perished on April 17, mostly due to $10,000 of epic incompetence wrapped in fail.

Seems that the Pandemic Legion was messing with Against All Authorities but when they warped out a Titan got left behind with a dying capacitor (cap). From the front lines:

EXCLUSIVE: FrizzleFry Interview -- Part 1

Griefing gang leader explains his game

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

The notorious FrizzleFry  - a shadowy figure from the griefing underground - recently made arrangements for an exclusive interview with the Herald. While Second Life can be used for meetings if you don't mind waiting for the scenery and the avatars to rez, this was not the sort of meeting that is best conducted in Second Life. After a few false starts, we eventually met in Skype text chat, where I learned how FrizzleFry's meta-game revolves around disrupting other players' Second Life, how targets are selected, his motivations, and how he would reduce inter-player chaos if he ran the game.

Pixeleen Mistral:   FrizzleFry - you are known as a griefer - but why do it?
do you hate SL? or is this something you do for the lulz?
FrizzleFry101:   that word was pretty new to me when SL'ers started calling us that, I always used the word trolling, since it was for fun. however I learned to hate sl for it's catering towards furries and the eventual problems that would come of it. furries are known to push their fetish aggressivly onto others as a means of marking their own identity as a furry, in other words, they have an obsession of letting it be known that they are a furry, give these people more leeway than others and you have a big problem

Pixeleen Mistral:   so this is all about furs?
FrizzleFry101:   no, but I believe they impact the game the most

Pixeleen Mistral:   have you ever been abused by a fur?
FrizzleFry101:   the closest example i can come up with for "abused" would be the annoyance encountering them on a regular basis or them entering forums just to preach the "furry way"

Pixeleen Mistral:   so this is more like swatting mosquitoes? annoying - but not life threatening
FrizzleFry101:   well in PN's case with SL it's more about recognising that they often make for the best comedy, since they often see themselves as a race of sorts

Alien28 vs Plagiariser - part 1

A shocking take of content theft, SL business treachery, and aliens -- based on a true story

by Coke Supply

 

Herald Reporter Banned from Woodbury

Rogue robot runs wild with ban stick!!!

by Kris Dibou

Artfox Daviau joins Kris Electricteeth on the Woodbury the ban list

"I am deeply repulsed by the eagerness of otherwise smart, well-intentioned people to try to solve all the underlying tensions of SL by banning residents or entire islands at the drop of the dime. This strategy needs to stop at the doors of academe whose whole existence is founded on the idea of educating others (presumed a priori to be lacking in the knowledge they seek) and exploring new ideas together in the open communication forum known as the classroom." -- Edward Clift, Woodbury University [2007 Herald interview]

                        

In a strange turn of events today, my alt found himself banned from the Woodbury sim.  What began as a simple field trip to show my friend, Artfox (of Nipplegate fame) the clever policy sign on furries, ended in banishment for making a small joke about the ingredients of katsu.  Now it just so happened that the robot following us around was named Phr0zen Katsu and apparently had never heard of a certain breed of dog known as the shitzu; hence, my question to my friend as to whether katsu was ever made with shitzu ended with me being stranded at Woodbury sea.

Scout Detritus -- SLebrity Autobiography

by Scout Detritus

"We chased all the Proks outta there, started buildin' shit, they said they liked us, and that we could stay and make our money..."

I started SL as a confused and bewildered wide eyed noob as I realized that SL was an endless possibility sandbox...I could be and do anything I wanted from minute to minute and it was awesome. It has changed so much since I first landed here, but I still have a lot of the same friends, as well as the same sorts of interests. SL keeps getting better every day.

My name comes from my favorite literary heroine in Harper Lee'S To Kill a Mockingbird...To me it is fitting...I think of myself as an adventurous and giving person that is well liked in many of the social spaces I travel to in SL. I have friends that are furries, goreans, and pubbies...and I have strived for tolerance of everyone I meet. I am hardly ever complacent myself, I spend most of my time between two shapes and hundreds of different avatar's and looks depending on what or where or even who I am at any given moment.

In the few years I have been playing this game, I have owned and built several sims, started a few businesses, joined in Roleplay, and designed, built, and coded anything I ever dreamed of bringing to life on screen (lol Ravenglass Fridge). I am both a W-Hat goon and a Woodbury Channer...I believe that in order to enjoy SL you have to do whatever makes you happy, and I pick and choose my life accordingly.

Anti-Furry Church Preaches Hate

Roleplay or improv theatre? hate as an artform with sacred daleks and anti-yiff spray

By Kris Dibou

Cross in St. Devros Church

Jacada Ansar had a vision.  Like some who have visions, Jacada started a church; a church that can could previously be found at Woodbury Longcat sim.  While puzzling over many churches built in the name of love, yet inciting hatred over those who do not believe as they do, Jacada decided to create a church based on hate in order to make a statement.  And who better, in Jacada’s opinion, to direct that hatred towards than the furry community.

During my visit to Jacada’s church, I witnessed two attacks and one redemption.  The whole thing ran like preplanned role play and certain comments made by Jacada reinforced this supposition. 

Outrageous Harassment: Griefers Scramble Police To SL Resident’s RL Home!!!

When will the FBI get involved?

by Stoli Babbage, staff reporter

"Swatting", is a term for a technology-enabled real life attack in which the perpetrator calls the victim's local police department in hysterics to convince the 911 emergency operators the victim is in a hostage situation -- or going on a shooting rampage. By making it appear the call originated from the victim’s phone number, a successful attack results in real life adrenaline-hyped gun-wielding SWAT teams being dispatched to the victim’s home, with dangerously unpredictable results. This is what passes for “lulz” or “fun” after playing the game too long and going snow-blind to virtuality/reality.

For several months, rumors have been circulating that the notorious Patriotic Nigras (PN) griefers were responsible for swatting several of their most outspoken opponents, including Second Life Furnation admin Corsi Mousehold. Until now, those rumors were unconfirmed. However, in recent interviews, Corsi Mousehold has stepped forward to confirm that the rumors are true.

Corsi Mousehold is the owner of “Corsi's Creations” in Gar, and Furnation - a furry sim (anthropomorphic animal role play area). Both the business and the Second Life sims have been under repeated attack by PN members over the last year - part of an escalating round of game-based virtual violence -- although Mousehold tells us that since the Linden Lab Governance Team has begun to step up, the attacks have died down. According to Corsi, "The PN might last a couple minutes in-world before being banned, if that, so we've seen a huge decline in griefing".

Unfortunately, it appears that now that the PN griefing is ineffective in-game, they have graduated to targeting their victims in real life. As Cosri told us, "They actually tried to swat me twice. The second time the police were still standing here from the first."

Reaction to Dissention Weekend Attacks

A sense of ennui

By Tillery Woodhen


Car stalls due to black cube rain

Sunday's attacks by DiSSENTiON knocked out many sims, often trapping residents in lagged sims, crashing neighborhoods and limiting teleports. But, in spot conversations with those affected, no one really got angry.

Annoyed, absolutely. But not raging. A few people, like one who's rezzer started autoreturning everything, including legit tenants, was very upset. But many simply waited for the individual sims to reboot.

Many people were simply enjoying themselves or doing basic work. This reporter was caught in the first attack while on a Sunday drive to a party. I was essentially trapped in Columbia sim, the car effectively useless. But the scenery was impressive.

Griefing Under the Old Regime

part 1: Reminiscing about days soon to be past

by d3adlyc0d3c, ex-griefer

Plastic Duck - a metaverse pioneer

I still stand by my belief that Philip cannot be blamed for all of the Chaos in Second Life. Linden Labs has had so much to do in the last few years trying to fix so many of the problems that naturally plague such a complex platform.

I think that any computer programmer can appreciate just how complex it would be to program an online world where millions of users can create content with a built in expansive and highly useful scripting language, a world where users can buy or rent land, sell items and have a permissions system, a world with decent graphics, so large that it runs on thousands of servers.

So here I'm not blaming Philip or the Lab for the griefing in Second Life. Here I am reminiscing about what it was like to grief in Second Life over the last few years, beginning with the history of the PN, W-hat, Plastic Duck and then ending with my own experiences. How griefing has evolved since Second Life was first established will be one of the main focuses of these pieces.

Because SL's history of griefing is so incredibly extensive we are introducing Griefing Under the Old Regime as a series instead of a single article.

There has been so many instances of griefing that one could write a book on the exploits of Plastic Duck alone, not to mention W-Hat as a whole, Woodbury University and The PN.

Should the PN Embrace Furry Members?

Another member of notorious PN group may be a closet furry

by d3adlyc0d3c, ex-griefer

Recently and very much by accident I happened upon evidence that a 'prominent' PN member is also a furry - and an administrator in the Ryder sim - where the Ryder Sanitarium is located. I was exploring the Ryder after the article about the Sanitarium and happened across a pool with a statue standing nearby wearing an Afro. Above the figure's head was the name Fartgina Emert and the phrase 'I'm closing ur poolz'.

I recognized immediately that the name was actually a PN member's name, rearranged, so I checked 'Fartgina Emert's' profile. The profile was filled with well known memes and showed that the account was created on January 1st 2007 - over one year ago. After further investigation Fartgina himself showed up, apparently an admin of at least one of the Ryder sims, wearing the title 'Shitty Administrator'.

For those of you who haven't figured it out, Fartgina is FatNigra of the PN. It had taken awhile for the implications of this to fully register. I always thought that when rumors were flying that PN’s are closet furries, it was just a weak attempt at trolling - but now I am beginning to wonder.

I rode up to Fatnigra in my popemobile to gawk at him some more before finally saying 'So how ya doin FN?', after which he immediately logged out of second life. I couldn't help but be somewhat dismayed - I was a part of this group once and now I am finding out that many of the membership couldn't even follow their own supposed beliefs!!

I just don't understand how the PN could possibly be so serious business and still do crap like this. If you're a furry then fine - but don't be a furry and claim to hate furries. I understand now how Mooty felt watching his creation - the PN - slowly destroy itself. PN is dieing and I am ashamed at times to have been a member.

Fiddy Likes Free Hot Dogs

With a $100,000 credit line you need to be getting hot dogs for free

by Tenshi Vielle, Fabulous Fashionista

Okay, so 50 Cent was brought in-world a few days ago, a special in-world screening and live interview. I watched the video for a whole five minutes until the first "N word" was uttered; then I shut it off. I listened to his interview for a bit longer - until he started talking about his credit card with a $100,000 credit line, and getting hot dogs for free - and then I quit listening. (Oooh, HOT DOGS.) It also occurred to me during the interview that dear "Fiddy" has a very unhealthy obsession with MTV whiner Kayne West and they should just get a room- and get it over with.

I never, however, stopped looking at the amazing quality of 50's avatar. So instead of his interview, I'm going to tell you all about his amazing avatar - created by DarkDharma Daguerre.

Angel Fluffy's Security Services Connected to PN Griefers?

Sources claim Angel Fluffy is Mudkips Ackronym - notorious PN leader
Griefing group created to fuel demand for Proactive Security?

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Running what may have been an anti-griefing protection racket in the virtual world could have backfired on Angel Fluffy - if the rumors flying around the metaverse are true. A number of sources claim that Angel Fluffy has an alternate identity as Mootykips Acronym - leader of the notorious Patriotic Nigras griefing group. Was Angel Fluffy using the PNs to create demand for the security service that Fluffy runs?

This would be ironic, since Fluffy has cultivated a helpful Linden pet image in Second Life by volunteering to “clean up” the feature voting tool proposals - earning a mention in the official Linden Lab newsletter. At the same time Fluffy has helped create a better world by stepping in to serve the in-world demand for capture/rape roleplay, with a business in silvermoon.

Neither of these pursuits have proven overly taxing, and Fluffy has also found time to run a security service and advocate linked ban lists to allow landowners to automatically ban undesirable residents. Of course, running a large scale security service could provide certain opportunities to settle some personal scores while policing the virtual world, and not all residents are sure that Fluffy’s Proactive Security and the SLBanLink.com site are entirely positive developments.

17 Sims Crashed in Swastika Pattern. Rosedale Sim Among Them

SL Gang Leader Vows Revenge

By Urizenus Sklar

We are used to griefers taking sims offline, and it happens so often we usually ignore it. But this time, Cinda Valentino, an old friend of the Herald and leader of the Valentino Mafia (one of the oldest vigilante groups in SL), asked that we call “enough” on this one. In the following Interview, I talk to Cinda, who lost many family members in Nazi death camps. She has vowed that her group will be proactive in the matter, since, in her view, the Linden’s are unwilling or unable to solve the problem and apparently unwilling to seek help. As Cinda asks of the Lindens, “WHERE R THEY??... WHY CANT WE TALK TO THEM ANYMORE??... WHAT ARE WE PAYING FOR?”

Indeed.

Photo Essay: Homeless /b/tards Construct New Base in Eon

by Urizenus Sklar

Never Forget. /b/tards pay respects to the permabanned.

Forlorn and despondent and more than a little suicidal after being cast to the street when the Lindens shut down Woodbury University, the never-say-die /b/tards of 4chan’s /b/ board (not to be confused with 7chan’s /b/ board /b/tards) have fashioned a new home in the sky over Eon (249, 102, 630), bending pixels with their bare little virtual hands and fashioning a place that’s one part Elvis on acid and two parts post-apocalypse New Jersey.

Yet it is not all ripple wine, jug handle U-turns, and plastic roses, as even during my visit the /b/tards were forced to fight off terrorist furries, annoying wannabees (which they directed to eBaum’s World), and the stigma of alleged associations with 7chan, the Patriotic Nigras (or PN), and 4chans that lose it and do things like make dirty bomb threats against football stadiums and crank call the greatest entertainer of our era: Tom Green. Pen Philbin, Ralewyn Gray, Jeeves Lazarno and several other members of the crew were kind enough to give me a tour of their new digs. They assure us,(i) it will not be a griefer base, that (ii) they don’t overlap much with the PN, (iii) the PN is dead anyway, and (iv) the PN also never existed, and that (v) 7chan is fail fail fail. So there.

Are they Eddie-Haskelling us? Well…

[fotos that would be B& at the Blingsider /b/-low the phold]

Ginko Financial’s End-Game

L$200,000,000 in obligations, no liquid assets -- queue up and wait

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

get in the Ginko queue

Sunday afternoon, GinkoTec and Ginko Financial honcho Hinoserm Rebus sent a notecard to customers who have deposited Linden space bucks in the role-play bank known as Ginko Financial. The notecard and announcement at the fictional bank’s web site inform customers that they have two options for withdrawing their funds - get in the queue, or if they prefer not to wait “the seemingly indefinate period of time it could take to refill the reserves”, accept space buck “perpetual bonds” which someone might possibly want to buy on the open market at some point. Maybe.

According to Mr. Rebus, there is now a L$1,000,000/day limit on withdrawls. But Ginko Financial president Nicholas Portocarrero informed the Herald this evening that Ginko has approximately L$200,000,000 in obligations (about $740,000 USD), so this suggests it could be be the better part of a year before some depositors see their money - if they ever do. As of this writing, the savings deposits claimed at Ginko Financial's web site were L$118,429,950 - so perhaps paying 60% interest is catching up with the "bank"? According to Mr. Rebus, there is L$30,000,000 in pending withdrawls at this point - so the L$1,000,000/day limit seems ineffective at stopping capital flight from the "bank".

Given suggestions of ponzi scheme-like scams in play, and enough money at risk to make some sort of class action lawsuit a possibility, the situation at Ginko looks bleak. With sources suggesting that Hinoserm Rebus and Nicholas Portocarrero may be alternate accounts run by the same RL typist - a suggestion which both avatars strenuously deny - the lack of transparency in Ginko’s governance presents problems to those who would like to believe in the bank. The clouded Ginko situation is not helped by Mr. Portocarrero complete refusal to explain where he has invested his customers money - but this is how Ginko Financial has always run its business.

Attack--I Mean Educational Seminar on Ravenglass

By Random Unsung, Dept. of Barn Doors of Perception Left Open After Horses of Delusion Are Stolen

{Herald stringer Aging Hippie Random Unsung has filed an interesting follow-up story to the whole Woodbury U saga, but I've had to do a little editing, as the old goat has been hitting the window pane hard again--Prokofy Neva.}

There I was, reading about the casinos back again Serious Games which we have now in Second Life, like the one called 12 Monkey Gaming that has advertised its new services with a $250,000 Linden classified ad a grant from a prestigious foundation no doubt to do research, when suddenly, my IM window was leaving the most gorgeous multicoloured trails blinking.

I turned down "Black Peter" on my speakers and headed over to Ravenglass, which minutes before, the Lindens had just been brought back from down-hood after suddenly and mysteriously crashing hours before. A griefer posing as a tenant named Runny Panacek was in a panic, telling me a griefing attack an educational seminar was underway! I arrived to find epic oldbie Bonecrusher Slate's garage in Ravenglass in a flurry of particles, weaponry, and heavily-decked and laggy avatars. At the center of the chaos, tossing her long, alternately red and blonde flexiprim hair, was Tizzers Foxchase, clearly orchestrating the griefing leading the educational field trip. Her partner, Runny, decked in a quasi-Nazi post-modern Godwinian outfit was flying around apparently cooperating with being victimized by the griefers. "Well," sez I to meself, "This is clearly a fake stunt class essay exercise designed to appear as if these people have nothing to do with griefing exemplify the creative outlets of Second Life". The following pictures are Not Safe for Work Illustrate the Wonders of the Human Body Which We Should Acknowledge as Precious and Beautiful.

Woodbury University Island Destroyed

LL's extreme smackdown - Woodbury University's island deleted for TOS violations!
"a fascist company-controlled cookie-cutter world" - Tizzers Foxchase

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

not even a smoking crater was left...

Sometime Saturday, Woodbury University’s Second Life island dropped off the map of the virtual world. Second Life players have grown accustomed to intermittent outages from their metaverse service provider, sometimes spinning fanciful stories about tsunami and seismic activity as part of in-world roleplay. A virtual catastrophe does not appear to have been the cause of Woodbury’s demise, however.

It appears the complete disappearance of an entire virtual university was a disciplinary move on the part of Linden Lab - for Terms of Service (TOS) violations. Tizzers Foxchase, an administrator of the virtual land group for Woodbury University, provided the Herald with a copy of the virtual eviction notice:

---

Tizzers Foxchase: (Saved Sun Jul 1 12:19:36 2007) Linden Lab has continued to find inappropriate uses of the Second Life region "Woodbury University" under your control. On the 16th of April, you were informed of problems with the activities taking place in the region. Many members of the Woodbury University group (which controls the region) have been detected before and after that date causing severe problems in Second Life, in violation of the terms of service. These problems include incidents of grid attacks, racism and intolerance, persistent harassment of other residents, and crashing the Woodbury University region itself while testing their abusive scripts. Due to the ongoing problems, Linden Lab has no option but to immediately close the Woodbury University region. If you believe that this notice has been sent in error, or that the details of this incident have not been adequately examined, please address your concerns in an e-mail to abuse-manager@lindenlab.com Sincerely yours, Customer Support Linden Lab 945 Battery Street San Francisco, CA

---

Earlier this afternoon, I contacted Ms. Foxchase to learn if the Lindens have refunded Woodbury’s money, what the plans the displaced residents have, and how the Linden ban on Wodbury’s sim might affect educational uses of the metaverse.

Supine SLLA Spawns SLDF, SLDM

SLLA goes tits up, spawns new groups to fight the powers that be
"one av, one vote"...except alts

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Sunday morning visits to the Herald offices can be rough - there is always the possibility that Walker or Uri have been “working late” on a “special project” and have decided to take a short siesta on the floor - surrounded by their “research materials”. However sordid that scene becomes, at least there is someone to help empty the ashtrays and hide the evidence take the empty bottles out to the trash. Even better - should the mojo wire relay breaking news, someone is there to respond - even if it is in a debauched dissolute fashion. But this sunday the offices were pristine and peaceful - except for the blinking red light on the mojo wire, and a short screed from Smoke Wijaya.

Smoke Wijaya reports that the SLLA is no more - with mass resignations and the formation of several new groups to fight the power - hopefully more effectively than the SLLA. Avatar rights advocates will want to track two new groups - the SLDM (SL Democratic Front) and SLDF (SL Democratic Movement) - to see if they can avoid becoming pawns of publicity-seeking platformistas and the corporate class in SL. It will also be interesting to see what sorts of t-shirts the new groups design, and if they can put on good parties to enlist the blingtard class in their movement. The goons in Baku set high standards with their party friday night - but that is another story.

Here is the text of the announcement:

Griefer’s Delight - Live Help Discontinued

“Pyramid of Death” SpamTex, SpamLM flood crashes clients
LL support for paying customers “has gone in the toilet”

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Wednesday’s demise of Live Help left most residents without a way to summon instant assistance from their metaverse service provider - Linden Lab. The Lab’s removal of live resident support has been especially unpleasant for Billie and Issa Scaggs who were both griefed with upwards of 10,000 textures and notecards - causing Billie’s client to crash, and serious inventory cleanup problems for both victims.

Mr. Scaggs told the Herald that after he crashed, “I had an additional 10,000 inventory items when I relogged and it resumed. It took nearly two minutes before i could go into busy mode to deflect the items being sent to me”.

Based on his description of the attack, this would appear to be some sort of scripted weapon that gives landmark and texture gifts and keeps on giving... and giving... and giving. Mr. Scaggs said, “the creators of the items are newbie_template Linden (which can not be muted) Jami Miles and paeoti Pomeray”.

newbie_template Linden is listed as creator of the SpamTex texture

Normal anti-griefing measures were ineffective. “I am accustomed to the more common attempts of griefing, but this was new. My first reaction was to disable scripts on the entire sim, which was of no use” said Mr. Scaggs.

Updated: Is Business Week Stealing Herald Intellectual Property?

Update: April 18, 10:30PM Linden Time

As of 10:30 this morning the SL Herald attribution has been added to the BallerMoMo pic. Thanks to author Douglas Macmilllan for getting Business Week to fix this in a timely manner.

As Prokofy Neva noted on April 16, Business Week is running an online article in which they lead with a Herald Screenshot of ubergriefer BallerMoMo King. Business Week has been contacted by at least three Herald representatives regarding this matter, and one was told that the matter would be rectified. I personally have emailed the author of the article three times, and he has not responded to any of my inquiries.

Business Week was originally given permission to use Herald screenshots provided that they included attribution to the Second Life Herald. After initial complaints they have included attributions to three of the screenshots, but have not provided an attribution to my screenshot of BallerMoMo King. Accordingly I am revoking their permission to use any Herald screenshots in their article, and I am asking them to immediately remove all such screenshots from their website.

From Business Week, April 16.

From the Herald, December 28, 2004.

Extra! Prok and Plastic Tie the Knot!

In a cross-border caper organized in the wee hours of Saturday morning by otakup0pe Neumann of libsecondlife, notorious griefer Plastic Duck and infamous blogger antagonist Prokofy Neva were married at a brief ceremony on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.

The deliriously happy couple then disappeared into a HoJos after downing some Red Bull purchased at a 7/11. otakup0pe Neumann had no explanation for the event, which he had stage-managed after coming to Prok's RL house late Friday night. "Basically, I'm hoping my name is so hard to spell that no one will ever Google me right," the open-source scripter commented.

Asked why Plastic Duck, whose RL name is Patrick Sapinski, suddenly switched from griefing and stalking and poking a stick at Prokofy, who has furiously exposed his antics in lenghty blog blasts, to wooing the 50-year-old single mother of two, Duck said, "I've never had a mother's love."

Prokofy commented that now he had discovered that Plastic's last name was Slavic, there was hope that his ancestors' possible hatred of oppression in Eastern Europe might form a basis for sharing old age together.

Upon learning that Prokofy's temporarily-female RL self was already pregnant with twins from the virule duck, officials at Linden Lab visibly paled. "Maybe they can go over the There or Project Entropia or something," a Linden who asked not to be named commented.

Prok's distraught relatives were calling authorities on both sides of the border, urging them to watch the rails, as they suspected foul play was intended.

Shock! Philip Linden Invites Plastic Duck to Apply for Job at Linden Lab

What happens when notorious griefer Plastic Duck (aka Patrick Sapinski) inquires about the job of CTO Jedi at Linden Lab? Behold:

Hi Patrick, thanks for the contact! I don't think you are a fit for the operations role, but you might want to apply for one of the engineering positions, from the description of your background.

best,

Philip

Um, ok, so Plastic *did* burnish his resume just a bit ... claiming that

I have been managing a group of about 100 developers for over 3 years. We specialize in writing small and large business applications. Some of our major accomplishments include:
- Robust design applications and programming languages used to control custom robotics used by NASA and many major U.S. automotive companies.
- Designed, programmed, and maintained small networked grids used throughout the United States by the U.S. military and government to control, analyze, and store sensitive data and records.

Yes, we understand, Philip probably didn't know who Patrick was, and perhaps this is his granola munching fattie huffing way of saying "get lost". But then, we simply must ask, wtf is going on in this report about Plastic chillin' with Rinutai Linden and Eggy Lippmann on the SL beta voice grid? Could it be that Plastic is now on the payroll? It's ducky ducky ducky ducky world!

(Originally reported here, and confirmed via secret channels with Mr. Duck. Plastic Duck's inquiry is below the fold).

Shock! Video Celebrating Cyber-terrorism Wins Second Prize in Fox Sponsored Contest

Just a few weeks ago, Fox News was lamenting the virtual terrorism (and ageplay) in Second Life and calling upon Democratic Presidential candidate John Edward Edwards to condemn it. Today, Fox sub-sub-sub-sub- division Fox Atomic celebrates those exact very same cyber-terrorists by honoring a griefer-made machinima video celebrating Toronto-based griefer Plastic Duck. More shocking still: the credits thank Moo Money, which means that the Electric Sheep, Edelman PR, and the Herald Meth Lab are all implicated too! Oh and a Prokofy Neva Body Double (tm) makes an appearance too. As usual, Petey (Eddie Haskel) Peterson has been put forward as the human face of this diabolical organization.

Simone's Account Hacked

Prokofy Neva, Community Affairs

Prominent Second Life designer Simone Stern reported to the Herald today that her work account had been hacked this morning and L$400,000 stolen (an estimated $1500 US) from the account.

In a heist similar to another large theft two weeks ago at DarkLife, the hacker first transferred funds from Simone's work account, an avatar named Rica Wolfe, then to another day-old alt, Rica Beck, and then evidently on to a third day-old account MandyLynn Bailey. The day-old avatars were not online available for comment.

Simone contacted the only Linden she could find online, Hermia Linden, a liaison on duty, who was not able to do much other than to tell her to change her password and call the Lab Monday morning, and apparently was unable to authorize freezing of the account. Simone has pleaded with the Lindens to freeze the accounts pending investigation. LL takes 5-7 business days or more to cash out Lindens.

Not even her long-time RL partner knew the password on the Simone and Rica accounts, says Simone, because she had recently changed them, and no employees had the information. The money on the account included proceeds from her successful fashion lines, which have put her at the top of the list of SL avatars with profitable businesses, as well as proceeds from charitable activities.

Simone has been active in raising money for Ayshe's Angels, helping a young woman with brain tumours, Ayshe Millions, obtain medical treatment for acoustic neuroma. She had just completed a yard sale yesterday to add to the more than $15,000 US already raised in the past year to help Ayshe.

Toronto Star Reveals Plastic Duck's RL Identity

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Infamous uber griefer Plastic Duck's RL typist was apparently outed this morning by Murray Whyte of the Toronto Star in an article titled (Virtual) reality bites. In addition to speaking with the elder statesman of virtual journalism - the Herald's own Urizenus Sklar - and discussing the departure of the elf king, Mr. Whyte shares some choice quotes from Mr. Duck - and the identity of the Toronto resident who claims to be Plastic Duck - Patrick Sapinski.

"When I started, Linden Labs always used to pride themselves on how everyone belonged in SL - the content creators, the sexual deviants, whatever," said Patrick Sapinski, a Toronto SL resident known by his notorious in-game identity Plastic Duck.

"But what I saw was a small company trying to babysit thousands and thousands of adults. And I just thought, `What happens in three years, when there's millions of SLers and they can't babysit them all anymore? That's not going to work.'"

Ninja Looters of Infamy: Are The Patriotic Nigras Really Pathetic Posers?

In a shocking new twist to a story that already has more kinks than a pubic hair, reliable Herald sources inform us that despite their bragging on sites like 10 Zen Monkeys, the Patriotic Nigras did not initiate the attack on the John Edwards Headquarters in Second Life. According to our sources, the attack was in point of fact a generic Something Awful goon operation and Mudkips Acronym merely took credit for the action, scoring an extended interview with Lou Cabron in the process. As our source so eloquently put it:

[It] wasn't "Patriotic Nigras", it was mostly [Something Awful] goons. A few hours later some 4chan retards came by and claimed responsibility. Patriotic Nigras = 4chan.

This raises several issues. First, it suggests that the SA goon's Eddie Haskel routine of "gosh Philip, your hair looks lovely" may have successfully insulated the goons from being suspects in this case. Second it raises serious question about the integrity PN. Ninja Looters, are of course people who let someone else kill the monster and then run in and grab the loot. But in this case what did the PN grab? Taking credit for some racist scatalogical griefing, all they got was some paultry attention and an interview in a fancy "webzine". As we said back in the day: Shame. Shame and ridicule.

10 Zen Monkeys: "Patriotic Nigras" e-Terrorist Group Responsible for Attack on Edwards Headquarters

Not Virtual Republicans, but pimply, attention starved, adolescent losers. Imagine that!

10 Zen Monkeys is reporting that there is strong evidence linking the recent griefer attacks on the Edwards Headquarters to the Second Life griefer organization known as the "Patriotic Nigras'. This would not be surprising if true. The attack certainly had the earmarks of their work. From the article:

“Guess what: we’re not Republicans. In fact, I’m one of the most hard-core liberals I know.”

A post on the John Edwards blog claimed credit for an attack on his campaign HQ in Second Life — saying that “We simply did it for the lulz… The fact you were so bent out of shape to make a blog post on the OFFICIAL JOHN EDWARDS BLOG about how some people placed a bunch of shittingdicknipples on your lawn is mighty telling.”

The post was deleted from Edwards blog. (Its last line was “Enjoy your AIDS!”) But the poster used the name Mudkips Acronym, which also turns up in a January entry on Encyclopedia Dramatica, identifying him as a member of a longstanding Second Life “invasion group.” Its name is given as “Patriotic Nigras: e-terrorists at large,” and Saturday the entry was updated to claim credit for the Edwards attack.

This would make the Edwards attack just the latest installment in a longer history of random assaults. The page describes the group’s first attacks as griefing pranks on Second Life’s “Gay Yiffy” virtual nightclub — blocking the exit doors on a disco’s private rooms, and filling its dance floor with an annoyingly large box. They returned to build a wall with a swastika of American flags, and eventually created a “Doomsday” weapon that creates endlessly replicating cubes.

The group also claims weapons like “the Dong Popgun” (which fires a barrage of penises), and the “Cosby Block” (a profilerating posters of the Jell-o pudding pops spokesman). One Second Life blogger accuses the group of distributing the infamous Goatse picture, a tactic confirmed by a Second Life newspaper.

Edwards HQ Vandalized. Campaign Blames Virtual Republicans.

It's bad enough having Fox News excoriate you for not staffing your HQ and calling on you to denounce virtual underage sex brothels, but now there is the problem of Republican griefers. According to an Edwards campaign worker, it was not pretty.

Shortly before midnight (CST) on Monday, February 26, a group of republican Second Life users, some sporting "Bush '08" tags, vandalized the John Edwards Second Life HQ. They plastered the area with Marxist/Lenninist posters and slogans, a feces spewing obsenity, and a photoshopped picture of John in blackface, all the while harrassing visitors with right-wing nonsense and obsenity-laden abuse of Democrats in general and John in particular.

Story is here. The campaign worker says he filed an abuse report with Linden Lab. Um, sure, that'll work.

Is Ginko's Alleged Ponzi Game About to Implode? Will Linden Lab be Held Liable?

The Journal of the Business Law Society at the University of Illinois College of Law is running a well documented article on Second Life's Ginko corporation, which claims to have the equivalent of $475,000 US invested in it but which some have called a ponzi scheme, Meanwhile, Philip Linden has comparedGinko to the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. Finally, someone is calling out Philip on this outrageous attitude. From the JBLS:

More curious than people’s willingness to give their money to Ginko, is that Linden Lab does not seem to find anything worrisome about the venture. Linden Lab’s CEO and founder, Philip Rosedale, believes that banks can exist within the virtual world of Second Life without regulation. Rosedale likens banks like Ginko to Grameen Bank of Bangladesh which makes small unsecured loans to the very poor to help them start businesses and work their way out of poverty.

Meanwhile, a well placed and reliable Herald source tells us that Ginko is in fact a ponzi scheme. We are not in a position to pronounce on the matter, given the real life legal implications, however we think it is about time for Ginko to show some transparency. Where is the money!? Open the books, and show us where the money has been invested. Is it in other Second Life businesses, or in things like sweet new rides, as our source insists? More to the point, if it *is* a ponzi, will Linden Lab be liable? From the article.

Given Ginko’s complete lack of transparency, if it turned out to be a swindle, it would be very hard for depositors to track down the person or persons behind it. Even if they were found, there is no guarantee that depositors would be able to obtain redress. If this were to occur, it is likely that the depositors would sue Linden Lab for not protecting them from fraud. By not taking efforts to ensure that commercial activity in Second Life is conducted in a transparent manner, Linden Lab is in essence putting their stamp of approval on ventures like Ginko. Linden Lab of course absolves itself of any liability for the actions of Second Life users in its Terms of Service Agreement, but there is no guarantee that the Terms of Service Agreement will hold up in court. If a court determines that Linden Lab is liable for fraudulent activities that take place within Second Life, they may be overwhelmed with suits. To avoid liability, and governmental regulation of the commercial activities within Second Life, Linden Lab should develop rules and policies that ensure commercial transactions between users are transparent and legitimate.

See Virtually Blind for further discussion and an observation that, with yields down 60% in 16 months, it does not look good for Ginko investors.

Island Land Scamming, Anyone?

Former residents claim Valentines day eviction massacre in “The Tropicana” sim, hire SL/RL lawyer to arbitrate island land dispute

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

I met one of a rare breed Saturday. Joshua Sao is a 5 month metaverse resident who owns “The Tropicana” island sim yet cannot recall when he bought his island, or the amount of his monthly tier payments to Linden Lab. It is also difficult for Mr. Sao to remember exactly how many residents he evicted - although eventually Mr. Sao told the Herald he evicted “2 or 3 tenants” for what he claims is non-payment of rent.

However, a group of 7 turfed-out ex-residents have hired SL/RL lawyer Monday Beam to represent them - and say that rent was not due until the 24th. After the Valentines day evictions, some former resident of “The Tropicana” sought help from Linden Lab suggesting that they had been defrauded. Those residents report they only got blank stares from the LL staffers - and a reminder that island owners have absolute power in their tiny fiefdoms.

For the evicted residents such as Rhea Newall and others the stakes are high. Documents obtained by the Herald - including screen shots of transaction histories from the Second Life web site - suggest that residents were evicted from Mr. Sao’s land after paying L$40,000 - 50,000 (around $170 USD) to “buy” the land and L$5,000 for a month of rent. Without the ability to re-sell the virtual land they “bought” from Mr. Sao, the evicted residents are looking at significant financial loses in the virtual land game. Mr. Sao is apparently now re-selling the recently vacated land.

Herald Correspondent Attacked by Bill Cosby, Investigation Launched

by Jimbo Quality

[Editor's Note: Jimbo's investigation into the perpetrators of the attack described below is continuing. As is the Herald's into how this guy get to write for our paper in the first place.
--Walker Spaight]

If you're like me, you often find yourself camping a camping chair at a place like the LV Casino »in Baeogae«. It was almost 9:00pm SL time on a recent Saturday evening when I was doing just that, standing next to a camper's chair, hoping to beat her back into it when the last of her active cycles ran out and the chair kicked her out like an extra ball in an old pinball machine. After all, good camp chairs are hard to find.

I'd been a little nervous that I wasn't going to get a chair at all. But then, across the smoky casino floor I spotted her. She'd been there a while, her idle cycles were almost used up and she was nodding off into the AFK mode. I stood next to the chair, waiting, watching for the telltale signs that she was about to go down.

All of a sudden I was accosted by a zillion Bill Cosbys.

Latest Newbie Scam or Brilliant Marketing Tactic?

By Prokofy Neva, Dept. of Scams, Con Artists, Ponzi Schemers, and Emergent Metaversal Marketing Strategists

Americans like to think they pwn the scams on Second Life, with their long, dishonourable traditions of P.T. Barnum ("There's a sucker born every minute"), Charles Ponzi (Italian-born), and William Thompson ("Have you confidence in me to trust me with your watch until tomorrow?).

But Americans are in the minority in Second Life now compared to Everybody Else, and the French are the largest cohort of "foreigners" at 12.73 percent, followed by Germany at 10.46 percent, UK by 8.09 percent and Dutch by 6.55 percent. So Americans are going to have to face some stiff competition when it comes to scams -- and we have an early indication that they will be compelling indeed.

In Tuliptree, site of my newbies' cheap rentals, some abandoned gov'd land was swooped by a newcomer some 10 days ago. I thought at first he might be a bot (he might still be). xav Chapman didn't talk; but then, maybe I should have tried French. Within a week, he and his confreres were busily at work creating something called Publicenter corp., which is a kind of manpower office for newbies. With the Tuliptree and other branches, people can buy old-fashioned, beautifully-crafted sandwich boards for $0 and be paid $2 for every 10 minutes that they walk or fly around SL in them. Once called by Charles Dickens, "a piece of human flesh between two slices of paste board", today's cybernetic sandwich-board person is merely monetarizing time on line on our favourite social-software platform.

Fear and Loathing in Second Life, Part 7: The Sordid History of the Big Brother Fiasco, Day 1

[Readers of the Herald will recall our earlier reports on the disaster that was Big Brother in Second Life. Perhaps you *didn't* know that our faithful correspondent, Gideon Television was there, as a contestant! Well it is so. Today Gideon begins retelling (in day-by-day "blow"-by-"blow" fashion) the whole sordid tale. Sorry we didn't publish this as it happened. --Ed.]

And so it begins. 15 avatars, one house, one month. And this is my confessional.

Goon Public Service Announcements

Philip Linden and Plastic Duck - as seen by Something Awful goons

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Recently, Decomposing Monstre dropped by with a series of public service announcements to share with Herald readers - but these presented a serious publishing problem -- how to create a real multiverse media mashup on the web 2.D so new wave marketing gurus to real life corporate titans trying to make sense of teh intraweb 3.D can still get the true zeitgeist of Second Life goons and griefers.

After some experimentation in the secret Herald laboratories, our tame text technicians suggested juxtaposing goon-created Philip Linden and Plastic Duck announcements then photographing the results as a sort of post-modern generative art form.

Since the animated posters keep changing automatically, the announcements displayed might be seen as a sort of I Ching throw down overseen by a benevolent Linden Scripting Language sprinkled with metaverse lag in dynamic balance of opposites. Perhaps this is representative of the internal dialog inside the goon community? In any case, here are the results:

LandBots Bought First Linden Land; Line Pockets

By Prokofy Neva, Dept. of Virtual Estate

Try saying that headline really fast! But no matter how fast you move, you'll never be able to control your reflexes as quickly as LandBot, who can purchase a parcel released to first land while your human eye is still slowly blinking.

Yes, you're heard of CopyBot, CampBot, and SheepBot: now welcome LandBot into the pantheon of libsecondlife reverse-engineered features that are enhancing your Second Life *cough*.

It's now been confirmed by multiple eyewitness reports (I've seen them myself) as well as a drama-laden Second Citizen confession, that bots -- multiple alt accounts controlled by one person -- are scouring the land of SL to buy up first or liquidated land and corner the market. The Lindens, as usual, are silent and have no comment. Resident Answers, that rump of the old LL forums, and many other blogs including the Herald are fretfully discussing the implications of shortages and land-swooping by baby barons for new people coming into Second Life who want land, as promised in their subscription. Are they to go on being deceived by exploiters?

Busted! Furry Caught Soliciting Grid-Crashing Grief from Goons

Furry on Furry Warfare Broadens

For those who have been on the grid for the last few years, stories of users seeking virtual muscle to grief their neighbors is nothing new. Rare is the case, however, where someone is busted in the act of trying to buy some virtual grief. This is apparently what recently happened in a case involving DJ Walcott, a furry administrator of Furpleasure, who sought out some Something Awful Goons (a subgroup of them associated with the W-Hats) in an apparent attempt to hire them to grief an enemy furry group.

Petey's latest Second Life Safari has the whole story, and an excerpt from the incriminating chat log is posted below the fold.

Cambot Races, Doo-Da, Doo-Da

By Prokofy Neva, Dept. of Bot-Watchers and Alien Look-outs

Bots treading Linden water outside of Emerald Falls Casino, which has been forced to ban unverifieds.

With apologies to Stephen Foster.

Campbot zombies sing this song
Doo-da, doo-da
Libsl can do no wrong
Oh, de doo-da day

Gwine to run all night
Gwine to run all day
Bet my money on OS SL
Somebody bet on Croquet

Oh, the Lin-den staff and the script-kiddie sorts
Doo-da, doo-da
Come to a bug hole and they all file reports
Oh, de doo-da day

(chorus)

I went down there with W-hat breakin' in,
Doo-da, doo-da
Came back home with a million Lin-dens
Oh, de doo-da day

(chorus)

The Campbots have seriously become a problem for SL's booming casino business. We had reported late last year about the invasion of Emerald Falls Casino and Games in Pruni by a bunch of bots with Greek names -- they appeared to subside.

But Emerald Falls co-owner Clarrice Cinquetti reports the bots are back in full force, arriving constantly in large batches. At least two other casino owners have reported to the Herald that they, too, have been invaded by massive numbers of bots, who respawn as soon as they are ejected and banned, forcing them to close their land to unverified accounts with "no payment on file". The move has effectively cut cash-strapped newbies -- the target audiences for casinos and their ubiquitous camp-chairs and dance-pads -- from being able to go to venues willing to aid them and provide game help, socializing, and a chance to win on the slots.

Last Sunday, Clarrice teleported me to a disturbing tableau by the elaborate fantasy bridge and working railroad tracks she built in Pruni. Dozens of bots were rezzing on adjacent Linden land, unable to enter her property, which they had been programmed to invade, now that it was set to ban unverifieds. The zombies were falling into the water, flopping around, and then finally logging off -- only to be replaced by new bots. Her efforts to stop the bot-bunching had led her to purchase some nearby land at an outrageously high price -- but Linden land was still open to be exploited.

Herald Paparazzi Camp Plastic Duck

Herald Paparazzi get a rare shot of Plastic Duck. Note how evil and gollumesque his hand is!

by Pat the Rat

You may live outside of the USA, safely hidden away in a big forbidding city, but it won't stop the Herald paparazzi from tracking you down and camping you until they get that rare photo or video footage. Here our paparazzi score a rare photo of the infamous ubergriefer and client hacker Plastic Duck, a.k.a. Gene Replacement, and 50 other a.k.a.s.

No need to be impressed. It's how we do. But see below the fold for a shot of Plastic Duck's gear!

Extortion! Brutality! Ageplay! Goreans!

Mafia extortion price lists revealed

-by sparrowhawk perhaps

[Gorean administrator Charles Tiramisu reveals mafia-style extortion attempts against Gorean cities along with price lists from alleged extortionists - services cost up to L$ 40,000/month -- nearly $200 USD. Admin Tiramisu also discuses extreme brutality, slave exports, women, and ageplay concerns in an exclusive interview with the Herald. -the editrix]

Sparrowhawk Perhaps: I am sitting here today with Charles Tiramisu, the Administrator for the Gorean islands of Tancred's Landing and Tancred's West. Many thanks to You, Admin for taking time out of Your busy day to be with us today.

Charles Tiramisu: My Pleasure

SP: I wonder if You might begin by telling us a little bit about Tancred's?

CT: Aye, Tancreds Landing, and Tancreds West, are all one big area spread out over two SIMS in SL Gor. They are situated along the Vosk River, and a part of the Vosk League

SP: I see.

CT: It is a peaceful township, known for their trade and their tradeships along the Vosk

SP: Does Tancred's have any particular exports or trade -- Tyros, for example is known for cherries, I believe...

CT: We are known for our Slaves and their exquisite training

SP: good exports, then -- smiles

CT: aye

SP: In SL, among Gorean roleplayers, there appears to be a rather large spectrum -- all the way from the people who shall we say are delicate, to the book purists, to the goth-goreans. Where do you place Tancred's in that spectrum?

CT: We keep to the books as closely as we can, with some leeway in the RP, but there are also some lines we do not cross, nor allow, as they are VERY specific in the books.

---

Women with submachine guns not welcome

SP: Could You give an example of a line You would advise Your city not to cross?

CT: Women Armed, with weapons that the books SPECIFICALLY call out as not possible, such as, the books describe a female of Gor, fully grown, to have the strength of a 12 year old earth boy -- Not able to handle the massive swords, and spears of the full grown Gorean Male -- And many women come into Gor, and arm themselves to the hilt as such

SP: so if I understand You correctly, You would look away from some panthers armed with submachine guns and the like?

LL Deducts Millions in FurNation Assets

Did LL punish innocent furry recipients of multi-million L$ donations?

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

In an open letter to the FurNation community, Nexxus Ambassador tells a shocking tale calling into question ownership of in-world assets such as land and L$, and highlighting risks for those trying to support an online community though L$ donations and land rentals.

Despite a history of Linden encouragement, Nexxus Ambassador claims the Linden game gods recently locked the legitimate owners/administrators of the FurNation sims out of the game for 9 days and deducted several million L$s from players’ accounts - though these players were not found guilty of any wrongdoing.

After this experience, Nexxus has some understandable questions about Linden Lab policies - policies that seem to place all risk for use of the platform game onto the shoulders of the Lab’s customers. Given the Linden’s well-known confidentiality policies with respect to player problems and exploits, the substance of the company investigations remain unknown - as is the identity of those who allegedly acquired several million L$s through apparent fraudulent means. What is known is that despite Nexxus’s investigations suggesting a donor of several million L$s to the FurNation Community Bank was legitimate, the Linden staffers deduced money from his account - leaving Nexxus deeply in the red - after leaving him locked of his Second Life account for over a week.

Avatar of the Year, Third Place: Mark Barrett - SLStats

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

As we approach year end, a joyous tradition is observed in the Herald offices - the selection of the coveted SL Herald Avatar of the Year Awards. As part of this solemn ceremony we present the most sought after and prestigious awards of the metaverse to the three avatars who most changed the news and the world for better - or for worse.

Last year, third place went to über griefer Plastic Duck in recognition of outstanding “achievement” in the stupendous ironic bad ass race. This year, 3rd place goes to Mr. Mark Barrett for his dystopian surreptitious citizen surveillance system - the SLStats watch. Developing a covert citizen monitoring system would not be enough to merit this award - it takes more to impress the judges. Mr. Barrett rose above the crowd by turning small scale snooping into wholesale spying on the citizenry at large - then publishing the results to the world.

To expand his SLStats system, Mr. Barrett distributed free wrist watches with secret citizen scanners because - as he told the Herald - he was concerned that not enough people would voluntarily participate in his avatar database avatar to be “interesting”. In time, word got out that some residents’ watches were secretly feeding a web database listing what could be chance associations between avatars as “friendships”.

AvaStar Moves to Silence Critics: Issues Bans, Files Frivolous Abuse Reports, and Seeks Real Life Information on One Critic.

It’s times like this we wish we weren’t so “fairly unbalanced” all the time, because it is very important to us that you take this particular story seriously. We aren’t kidding, and we aren’t poking fun this time. The Herald has seen many hamfisted efforts to silence critics through the years, but this one is right up there at the top. Avastar General Manager Ikarus Santos has banned a number of avatars from Avastar Island, including (1) Cheri Horton, who caught them trying to swipe one of her screen shots, (2) Tenshi Vielle who refused to advertise with the AvaStar and was highly critical of their advertising rates on her blog. (3) Billie Scaggs, who was present during the initial conversation in which Tenshi refused to advertise with the AvaStar, (4) Wilbur Wilber, for wearing an AvaTard protest T-shirt at AvaStar Island, (5) Former employee Fredric Prevost, for being critical of the AvaStar in various SL blogs, (6) Albert Delacroix, who’s only involvement seems to be that Fred had him listed prominently on his profile. [update: subsequent to the writing of this article, the island bans have been lifted.]

In addition to the bannings, a number of these individuals have allegedly also been the victims of frivolous abuse reports from the AvaStar’s business manager. In some cases the allegations of abuse reporting have involved the posting of conversations, but in the case of Fredric Prevost, the issue seems to involve nothing more than criticism on various blogs. Most frightening of all, it is alleged that Ikarus Santos attempted to acquire the real life information of Tenshi Vielle. [update: we have no word on whether the abuse reports have been withdrawn]

Below the fold is an interview with Vielle, Scaggs, and Prevost, along with additional supporting documentation. The Herald also contacted Ikarus Santos for an interview, but has so far refused to speak with us.

CampBots Draining Casino Owners

By Prokofy Neva, Dept. of Rumours, Conjecture, Conspiracy Theories, and Inside Dope for Inside Dopes

You've seen CopyBots. You've seen anti-CopyBot spamming defeaters. You've seen anti-anti-CopyBot defeaters.

And now...you can see hordes of spam CampBots...like zombies...with Greek names! Surely there's an ageplay/furry angle in here, too -- we're working on it!

Word is starting to perk up from the grid in the last week of legions of silent bots with names that sound like college fraternities, moving into camp-chair sites, filling them up, draining all the Linden dollars out of them...and then never spending on the casinos. They also don't return IMs or reply to requests for friendship. They don't talk. When owners eject them, they clump together at the edges of sims and begin to ghost and then respawn. Many are dressed alike.

Clarrice Claridge, co-owner of the Emerald Falls Casino and Games in Pruni, first spotted the "bots" last week and called the Herald to find out if we knew anything. She described several dozen odd avatars with pale faces....

It could be worse. We could be in There.

I've posted this machinima rock video because (i) it involves griefers and (ii)...well if it involves griefers I don't need another reason. Still I feel guilty because I've been to operas that were shorter, and the There avi's are freakin' hidgie, and well the video is... how can I put this...well...is it still wrong to say this if I spell the word g-h-e-y? Still I am reliably informed by 3pointD.com that it won a film festival over at There.com. Still more evidence that There bites.

Did Official Live Helper Threaten Goons Over Furry Ageplay Report?

Goons Allegedly Threatened with DMCA Action for "Mockery"

Don't fuck with THIS Offical Live Helper. Image via Petey at Something Awful.

A recent post on the Something Awful site has exposed the seldom talked about fault lines in the Second Life Community and raised a number of difficult issues. When an earlier post on Something Awful satirized a store that sold artwork with a furry ageplay theme, allegedly, a diaper wearing furry (following the goons, let's call him Baby Wolfie) who is also allegedly a member of Linden's Official Live Help (and also teaches scripting classes?) interceded on behalf of the owner of The Baby Tiger Den, threatening the Goons (if the chat logs are accurate) with DMCA action, abuse reports to Lindens etc.

Independently of the veracity of the Something Awful report, the issues raised are these: Can it really be a violation of privacy and/or copyright to expose activities that some feel border on pedophilia, or which may cater to the fetish? Clearly we do not wish to draw that connection quickly -- there should be lots of space for fantasy roleplay -- but when items are placed for sale in a public space should it not be possible to have an informed debate about the items placed in public and the attendant in-game practices, and doesn't "informed debate" require access to publicly available images? We've been down this road before with the case of the RP 8yr old sex slave Sasami Wishbringer . We will keep encountering the problem until we have a serious debate about the limits of privacy and the right to "snap pictures" of questionable builds in public places -- not for texture theft, but for debate about online practices, and yes, satire and mockery.

BABA SUCKS!

By Prokofy Neva, Community Affairs Desk

This just in...seems that Baba really does suck.

In a chat log published at SLuniverse.com, Baba Yamamoto tells his chums in the channel back on November 10 that the creation and deployment of CopyBot was deliberate, planned and malicious.

The revelation confirmed what many including your faithful correspondent had been saying: "There was gleeful, malicious, hateful victory-dancing about wrecking the world people had so carefully made and constructed out of the “your world/your imagination” motif."

Word on the grid is that Baba and his Bot-buddy Nimrod Yaffle are being frog-marched by the Lindens out the door -- that even our liberal lib-lubbin' Love-Machine loons have had enough.

This all awaits confirmation, but the log makes sobering reading -- it's more about the capacity to spread fear and panic through social software than it is about actually undermining people's copyright through the technical means we all know are being used -- and will be used in the future.

The Day After: Bot Back-Lash and the People Speak

In Hooper at the Home of the Copy-Bot, Libsecondlife HQ. Seemingly anti-libsl protestor actually staging an arch, tongue-in-cheek pro-Baba action; Baba himself made the sign years ago.

By Prokofy Neva, Community Affairs Desk

The day after hundreds of people shut down their stores and stopped creating the fantasy world for the Lindens to sell their platform to Big Business, the picture is actually very encouraging. The social and technical damage of the CopyBot is being limited, and substantial and influential sections of the community are making their voices heard in their demand to Linden Lab to have a viable world: that LL disable 3rd party clients until they can protect the content-makers in SL and their creations from copyright theft.

Many of these stores have opened back up again because they simply don't want to lose sales. Despite bot-panic, there was $526,788 spent in the last 24 hours, and they wanted to make sure they got their piece of it. To be sure, some filled their stores with a maddening and idiotic chatter with a 96-m range shouting "!quit" in the mistaken belief this would defeat the bot -- it can only effect v.1 of the bot, and there are now countless others out there. Sales of Bot and anti-Bot and pro-Bot t-shirts were brisk.

Not a single report was to be had of a single product copied *and resold* using the Bot. That's the reality of the virtuality, folks. The damage is potential, not real. In my hundreds of rentals for example, I had not a single report or sighting of a CopyBot for sale; not a single report of anyone being deployed to actually copy and resell through theft of IP; but dozens of complaints about the damn anti-Bot chatter, and a handful of those closing shops and refunding on store rentals in fear. The saddest sight for me to see was the newbie stalls of the first, halting, tacky or kitschy content that people make in SL, emptied in panic and fear over a Bot that would never bother with their content. Botting was mainly a poor folks, mainland problem because it involved flying around and copying people's stuff on the more open-highways mainland; islands are hidden, set to group, filled with security orbs that reject people. And then there was the backlash...

SL SHOCKER! - SLLA Hires Freelance Hit Squads

L$1000 bounty for hits on Electric Sheep, Millions of Us, Rivers Run Red -
Aimee Weber hit jobs discounted to L$500

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

SLLA now paying freelance shooters

Addressing the dearth of entry level jobs in SL, the Second Life Liberation Army today placed a bounty on a number of high-profile commercial contractors involved in bringing RL to SL. In a terse communique, the avatar rights and SL terrorist group called for “unrestricted warfare” in Midnight City with a L$500 bounty for filmed mayhem in the sim.

However, Aimee Weber’s stock appears to be dropping in the opinion of the SLLA. Hits on her competitors - the Electric Sheep, Millions of Us, and Rivers Run Red - fetch L$1000 - double what Aimee is worth. Observers speculate that Aimee may be over-exposed in the media based on her relative valuation - or perhaps she and visitors to Midnight City are just easy targets?

W-Hats Visit Reuters

Goons with talking hand puppets

by Fiend Ludwig

Plastic Duck returns – as a hand-puppet?

Prokofy Neva is not making up his accounts of relentless harassment, as related in his comments to the Herald here and on his Second Thoughts blog. This morning I witnessed just such a confrontation on the Reuters sim - with alarming hints at what the latest griefing tools may do.